The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method. In particular, the invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method which allow a user to easily acquire information that suits his favorites through the Internet, for instance.
In the Internet, for example, various kinds of information is provided to a user in various manners.
For example, if a user has himself registered in what is called a mailing list that is managed by an information provider who provides a certain kind of information, he can be provided with information from the information provider by electronic mail (E-mail).
Further, distributed electronic bulletin board systems called “net news” are constructed in the Internet, for example. A user can be provided with various articles by accessing what is called a net news server. In a net news system, when an article is written to a certain net news server, the article is delivered to other net news servers in a bucket-brigade-like manner. Therefore, information can be provided to many users efficiently.
Further, the WWW (world wide web) system that enables information delivery by use of a hyper text that is written in HTML (hyper text markup language) is constructed in the Internet, for instance. By utilizing the WWW system, a user can receive various information in the form of what is called home pages.
As described above, by utilizing the Internet, a user can be provided with information in various manners. However, since the amount of information is enormous, it is difficult for a user to easily acquire information that truly suits his favorites.
For example, in the case of the E-mail, since the same information is delivered to all users who are registered in a mailing list, it may include information that is needless to a certain user. Further, in the case of the E-mail, the cost of reception increases as the amount of information to be delivered increases.
In the net news system and the WWW system, a user needs to search for information that suits his favorites, which is cumbersome. Further, in the net news system and the WWW system, various information providers register new information, whereby new information occurs one after another on the Internet. A user needs to check, by accessing a net news server or a WWW server, whether new information that suits his favorites has occurred, which is also cumbersome.